Marketing Essentials

SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors. A ...Read More

SMART objectives are simple and quick to learn. The objective is the starting point of the marketing plan. Once environmental analyses (such as SWOT, Five Forces Analysis, and PEST) and marketing audit have been conducted, their results will inform objectives. SMART objectives should seek to answer the question 'Where do ...Read More

The marketing mix The marketing mix is one of the most famous marketing terms. The marketing mix is the tactical or operational part of a marketing plan. The marketing mix is also called the 4Ps and the 7Ps. The 4Ps are price, place, product and promotion. The services marketing mix ...Read More

In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, lets consider it as three different products - the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally the AUGMENTED product. These are known as the 'Three Levels of a Product.' So what is the difference between the three products, or ...Read More

Targeting is the second stage of the SEGMENT target POSITION process. After the market has been separated into its segments, the marketer will select a segment or series of segments and 'target' it/them ...Read More

Another one of the 4P's is 'promotion'. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with Neil H.Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' ...Read More

PESTEL Model This lesson is about PESTEL analysis. As we know from our lesson on the marketing environment the wider macroenvironment impacts upon how marketing managers make decisions. During this lesson we’re going to look at how we audit and evaluate our external business environment. There are a number of ...Read More

PEST analysis is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning ...Read More

The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the organization. There are three key elements to the marketing environment which are the internal environment, the microenvironment and the macroenvironment ...Read More

Marketing Concept. The marketing concept holds that achieving organisational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction better than competitors do. Kotler and Armstrong (2010). The marketing concept arrived after a series of other orientations that marketing companies underwent during the 20th ...Read More

The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well ...Read More

The decision Making Unit (DMU) is a collection or team of individuals who participate in a buyer decision process. Generally DMU relates to business or organisational buying decisions rather than to those of a family for example ...Read More

Buyer Decision Process The stages of the Buyer Decision Process The buyer decision process represents a number of stages that the purchaser will go through before actually making the final purchase decision. The consumer buyer decision process and the business/organisational buyer decision process are similar to each other. Obviously core ...Read More

Products or services are 'mapped' together on a 'positioning map'. This allows them to be compared and contrasted in relation to each other. This is the main strength of this tool. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of their ...Read More

Advertising

Seller beware! Guerrilla marketing is innovative and seizes the moment. It is a controversial way of promoting your products and services. The idea is that in some way you ambush your customers or the media that they are exposed to, such as TV or radio. For a small business, your ...Read More

Television Since you are a smaller business, television advertising is probably a less likely option for you. Of course, as a medium you can demonstrate your product in action; so, if you are a highly innovative business, you can show the features and benefits of your concept. With the advent ...Read More

Cinemas and movie theatres Your local cinema or movie theatre may be the place where your local customers congregate. Similar rules apply, as with radio and newspapers above, so common sense says you need to target those movies which your customers want to see. If you have a restaurant you ...Read More

You may be lucky enough to have a local independent radio station which is listened to by your target customers. Obviously, the benefits of any broadcast radio are that the medium is largely limited to sound and therefore is often best suited to communicating pure fact, for example when you ...Read More

The press (national or local) – newspapers and magazines The national and local press are a more mature form of advertising, which is still very popular with entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies. The benefit is that publishers will recognise the type of business that you have, and recommended packages of ...Read More

Outdoor – posters, billboards and transportation Outdoor advertising, which is also known as Out-Of-Home advertising (OOH), is all advertising that your customers are exposed to when outdoors! It is surprising how much advertising you can be exposed to whilst you are on the go. You will see advertising whilst walking, ...Read More

Your advertising will direct a message to large numbers of potential customers with one single communication! A couple of simple things to remember here: firstly, advertising needs to be aimed at specific potential customers from whom you need to make a profit; which leads nicely on to secondly, advertising needs ...Read More

Competitions You might consider price promotions which would include activities such as games, draws and competitions. One benefit is that costs can be calculated fairly precisely before this type of sales promotion. Games are one of those activities which has become far more elaborate since marketing has become digital; so ...Read More

How are giveaways used for marketing? Giveaways, also known as premiums, are products or services which are given away free or at a low price in order to provide incentives for customers to buy the product or service. There are a number of them, let us have a look at ...Read More

What is a money-off deal? Put simply, money off deals are where you offer a discount to customer. The benefit is that the customer sees an immediate increase in value for what they pay. Again the money off deal can be used to get a customer to trial your product, ...Read More

Rebates for marketing A rebate is a cash refund. The difference between a rebate and a coupon, is that the rebates are claimed after you good or service has been purchased. There are some other rather interesting rebating techniques that you might use. For example, you may set a target ...Read More

How do coupons work in marketing? Traditionally coupons were given away in newspapers and magazines, or maybe as part of a leaflet campaign. Digital marketing has rejuvenated the use of coupons. Historically the benefit of a coupon was that you had a permanent record of your customer. Of course digital ...Read More

Samples for marketing. There is nothing like actually trying a product or service out for yourself; therefore, if you experience it you know what you are buying and it may make it simpler for you to achieve your sale. You could give away a free sample, or you might decide ...Read More

There are many tools and techniques that will be useful to you when communicating with the outside world. Think about these tools as another type of mix, let us call it the promotions mix! Again, you will balance and blend these approaches to suit your business’ needs best. Ask yourself ...Read More

Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase in sales, usage or trail of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of the promotions mix). Sales promotions are varied. Often they are original and creative, and hence a ...Read More

Public Relations (PR) is a single, broad concept. It is broad since it contains so many elements, many of which will be outlined in this lesson. Public Relations (PR) are any purposeful communications between an organisation and its publics that aim to generate goodwill. Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders ...Read More

Another one of the 4P's is 'promotion'. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with Neil H.Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' ...Read More

Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject area known as marketing. Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P's), that includes people, processes and physical evidence, when marketing services (known as the seven P's) ...Read More

The loyalty ladder is often used by marketing communicators to put forward the proposition that consumers can be moved along a continuum of loyalty using a number of integrated marketing communications techniques (it is also referred to as a 'Branding Ladder.') ...Read More

A marcoms tool that a marketer can employ for branding decision-making is the Four Banding Alternatives (Tauber 1981). Four Branding Alternatives is a strategic marketing communications technique. It is a fun and creative approach that can add value to any class that likes to discuss brands and how they could ...Read More

Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium ...Read More

An advertising agency handles part or all marketing communications activities on behalf of a client organisation. The agencies themselves tend to vary in size from small, perhaps a handful of people, to vast - where many thousands of employees make up the company. A commission is generally taken by the ...Read More

Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships ...Read More

Consumer Behavior (Behaviour UK)

Generation X in America Generation X (also known as Gen X) is the part of the population born between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. Although it is accepted that the Generation X demographic was born between 1965 and 1980, academics and marketing researchers typically use dates from the early ...Read More

Baby boomers are the demographic of people who were born just after the Second World War; this would give the baby boomer generation an approximate date of between 1946 and 1964 . World war two ended in a 1945, and as a rule of thumb baby boomers are the children ...Read More

Marketers spend millions of dollars trying to understand why people buy products and services. Sometimes it seems that there is no reason for a purchase, but in reality there is always a reason. Many factors are involved in a customers' buying decision, any one of which can become the deciding ...Read More

Consumers choose goods and services based on the assumption that they will be rewarded with value and satisfaction. Consumption is the process by which goods and services are used and assigned a level of value by the consumer. That level could be positive, if the customer was satisfied, or it ...Read More

In America, there are six living generations, which are six fairly distinct groups of people. As a generalization each generation has different likes, dislikes, and attributes. They have had collective experiences as they aged and therefore have similar ideals. A person's birth date may not always be indicative of their ...Read More

Another way of segmenting publics is to do it based on values and lifestyles. Such segmentation regularly is used by marketers to focus product and service appeals on particular socioeconomic levels ...Read More

Segmentation is the process of breaking down the intended product market into manageable groups; it can be broken down by Relationship, Customer Type, Product Use, Buying Situation, Purchasing Method, Behavior, Geographic Location, Demographics, Psychographics ...Read More

Internal Influences - Personality Some marketers believe we choose products that express our personalities. Personality is defined as the thoughts, emotions, intentions and behavior that people express as they move through their environment. Personality is unique to individuals, but may be applied to groups, is a combination of characteristics and ...Read More

Motivation is an internal state that drives us to satisfy needs. Motivation is the energizing force that activates behavior. Once we recognize that we have a need, a state of tension exists that drives the consumer to the goal of reducing this tension and eliminating the need. Consequently, only unmet ...Read More

Marketing messages can be effective only if the consumer correctly understands the messages, and remembers them when needed. Memory refers to a consumer's ability to understand the marketing messages and assign them value and meaning. Value and meaning always together. The value and meaning assigned is largely determined by internal ...Read More

Lifestyle is a common word to explain complicated consumer behaviors. Lifestyle is a way to segment people into groups based on three things: opinions, attitudes and activities. Lifestyle means the ways groups of consumers spend time and money ...Read More

Consumer behavior is largely learned behavior. Learning is a change of behavior following an interaction between a person and their environment. A person touches a hot stove and then gets hurt, because of that interaction they learn not to touch the hot stove again. Most attitudes, values, tastes, behaviors, preferences, ...Read More

Emotion is difficult to define, and even more difficult to predict. However, they are important to marketers because consumers tend to react to marketing messages and make purchases based on feelings and emotions. Emotion can be used to create product benefits ...Read More

Creative Marketing

As with many of the tools and techniques considered on Marketing Teacher, traffic lights is a simple and effective approach. It's just like the traffic lights that are seen in millions of streets throughout the world, and is a basic metaphor for red, amber and green. Red means 'let's STOP ...Read More

The six thinking hats is a method for doing one sort of thinking at a time. Instead of trying to do everything at once, we wear only one hat at a time. It's a metaphor. There are six colored hats and each color represents a type of thinking ...Read More

The Restaurant Game Being creative using the restaurant game exercise. The restaurant game (Green 2008) is an exercise that you can use as a student in order to generate some really interesting and innovative creative ideas. The basis of the restaurant going is that you think of your product, concept ...Read More

Customers

This lesson will consider the internal and external customer, how marketing is used to build and nurture customer relationships, and will begin to build your knowledge on the customer loyalty ...Read More

Consumer Behaviour Situational Influences and Time Time is something that customers give up in order to shop and this is a very valuable thing! It is necessary to give up time for consumption to occur, but time can affect consumption in three forms: i. Time Pressure— When customers don’t have ...Read More

Consumer buyer behaviour is focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organisations. It is important to understand the relevance of human needs to buyer behaviour. This lesson consider buyer behaviour motivations ...Read More

Situational influences on consumer behavior (outlet selection) Shopping is an activity that everyone in the world participates in, but what exactly is it? Is a store necessary for shopping to take place? What motivates someone to shop? References Age, Life Phase and Consumption. (24 October 2007). Culture and consumption. Baker, ...Read More

Consumer Behavior Situational Influences and Shopping Habits a. Overview Studies find that it's part of our psychological makeup to do the same things over and over again. Essentially humans are pretty predictable, and stores take advantage of that to get us to buy more. i. If a shopper touches or ...Read More

Consumer Behavior The Science Behind Shopping a. Shopping activities. Until the proliferation of the Internet shopping depended on physical stores being located near potential shoppers. Now consumers are purchasing product from around the globe and having it shipped right to their door via the Internet. Consumers can also purchase in ...Read More

Consumer Behavior Situational Influences and Online Shopping a. Why consumers shop online i. Convenience: What could be easier than shopping from your own home (or on the go with a smartphone) anytime you want? c. Online Consumer Lifestyle Segmentation i. Click and Mortar— Only shop online for research, then go ...Read More

Consumer Behavior Situational Influences and Eating Habits What and how people choose to eat is not a conscious decision; it is affected by colors, smells, lighting, plate size and culture. Numerous studies on eating habits have revealed some surprising facts: Teens who buy lunch with cash buy more junk food ...Read More

Consumer Behavior Situational Influences and Atmospherics The three major situational influences are Time, Place and Conditions. Time—If a customer is in a hurry or the store is crowded this can change the way information is processed. The customer may not have time to consider all the brand alternatives and this ...Read More

Digital Marketing

Why is Facebook ideal for your business? Worldwide, there are over 1.65 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 15 percent increase year over year. So, you can see that Facebook is an ideal avenue for you to communicate your messages, and so your products or services. Age 25 ...Read More

Content marketing is the management of content to engage visitors, followers and customers. Any medium which is on a webpage or social network can form the basis of content. There are lots of examples of such tools and approaches; content may relate to material on social networks such as Facebook; ...Read More

With your digital strategy you need to decide how much of your valuable time & resources you are willing to dedicate. In order to do this, there are a series of questions which you need to ask yourself; spend some time thinking about this because the digital world is full ...Read More

Social Media Audit The social media audit is an important part of the digital marketing planning process. Social media is an opportunity for consumers to generate their own content, and many of the top-ranking results of an Internet search will result in social media content - in relation to companies, ...Read More

Persona marketing Using a fictional personality for social media marketing. Persona marketing is where a business creates a false personality for social media marketing. Some would view the use of false personalities as unethical, whilst others might see it as a form of focused marketing. [If you want to learn ...Read More

Persona - an innovative and practical marketing tool What is a persona? So what is a persona? We all have a personality. We are born somewhere, work somewhere, eat something, like and dislike, hate and love, fear and loath and we love buying certain brands and avoid others. That is ...Read More

Affiliate marketing is basically a process where a brand or supplier, for example a book retailer, attract customers by rewarding the third-party (or affiliate) for marketing their goods and services, and driving traffic to their website ...Read More

Digital Public Relations (DPR) is the use of digital and social technologies to manage the awareness and understanding, reputation and brand of a company or organisation, through the purposeful influence of exposure via digital media ...Read More

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is commonly seen as the golden key to huge amounts of website traffic. Marketers need to be aware that SEO is a structured process that on many occasions will improve the amount of traffic that you get your site, but that there is no magic formula ...Read More

Search marketing can include many aspects of digital marketing and traditional marketing, although it is generally seen to encompass paid placements, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Since SEO is covered in another lesson, we’ll focus upon paid search and pay-per-click, ...Read More

Social networks are a very important digital marketing channel, so it is important that marketers understand the essentials of social networking. They are particularly important when creating a community, based on communication and dialogue with our customers ...Read More

Viral marketing is the equivalent of online word-of-mouth. Viral marketing, aka Buzz marketing, uses all of the digital marketing media to disseminate a message which is passed along from person to person; it's viral because it spreads like a virus or disease and if successful communications can expand exponentially ...Read More

The salesperson can prospect using popular search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. Such searches can generate postcode data (ZIP codes) which can then give an indication of property prices, the level and nature of wealth in an area, people's professions and levels of education, and much more. Then ...Read More

There are many ways to use the Internet as a new medium for Advertising. This lesson considers Pay-Per-Click (or Cost-Per-Click) Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, and touches upon the range of traditional Offline Promotions Strategies that will help to promote a website using more offline media ...Read More

This lesson looks at ways of increasing the popularity of your website by looking at the internal optimization of the website itself. It considers many important ways of building your traffic, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) approaches ...Read More

Therefore digital marketing by its very nature is one aspect of an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. As such an aspect, digital marketing has its own ...Read More

The situation analysis for digital marketing bridges the internal audit and competitor research. It answers the question where are we now in terms of our digital marketing (internal v external perspective)? The analysis literally considers your digital marketing situation by considering the fit between internal and external factors. There are ...Read More

We've already considered product as part of the marketing mix. Two previous tools for product decision-making have been introduced - Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the Three Levels of a Product. Both of these tools are equally applicable to the context of digital marketing, and can be easily applied to ...Read More

International pricing and competition give consumers access to the lowest price for any generic good. For example, British consumers benefit when buying products from the United States since there are almost two Dollars to the Pound. Conversely this makes British goods more expensive to the American consumer. So it's cheap ...Read More

The digital marketing space of new or original Internet companies that have emerged as the Internet has developed, as well as those pre-existing companies that now employ digital marketing approaches as part of their overall marketing plan. For some companies the Internet is an additional channel that enhances or replaces ...Read More

The digital marketingMix is essentially the same as the marketing mix. It is simply the adaptation of price, place, product and promotion to the digital marketingcontext. Of course one could also include physical evidence, people and process when marketing planning for an online service. Below are a series of lessons ...Read More

The starting point for any digital marketing planning is the internal audit. We are seeking to answer the question, where are we now (internal perspective)? This is a consideration of internal resources and the effectiveness of our eBusiness based upon a number of factors ...Read More

Email Marketing What is e-mail marketing? So what is e-mail marketing? In a nutshell you send an electronic communication which contains a message to your customer or client. It could be a message about some updates regarding your business. It could contain a voucher for a particular promotion. Other popular ...Read More

Enterprise

There are many tools and techniques that will be useful to you when communicating with the outside world. Think about these tools as another type of mix, let us call it the promotions mix! Again, you will balance and blend these approaches to suit your business’ needs best. Ask yourself ...Read More

Value Proposition Canvas Let’s investigate the Value Proposition Canvas: a business tool that can help you create, design and implement value propositions. It is a tool which is used by tutors, trainers and business start-ups to look at the 'fit' between customers and our products/services. It is used as a ...Read More

Events Marketing

The Five Ws and How of Events Planning 1. Who are your guests? Who is holding the event? How many people are expected to attend? Do any of the attendees need any additional arrangements e.g. the elderly, disabled, or children? 2. What is your event? What sort of event do ...Read More

International Marketing

Here you will be consider modes of entry into international markets such as the Internet, Exporting, Licensing, International Agents, International Distributors, Strategic Alliances, Joint Ventures, Overseas Manufacture and International Sales Subsidiaries. Finally we consider the Stages of Internationalization ...Read More

International marketing is simply the application of marketing principles to more than one country. However, there is a crossover between what is commonly expressed as international marketing and global marketing, which is a similar term ...Read More

Marketing communications in international markets needs to be conducted with care. This lesson will consider some of the key issues that you need to take into account when promoting products or services in overseas markets. There will be influences upon your media choice, cultural issues to be considered, as well ...Read More

International product decision-making often centres around the standardization versus adaptation debate. Essentially, do we market the same, standard product in an international market or segment, or do we localize it, and adapted it so that it pleases local tastes? Here are some of the advantages and disadvantage of standardization ...Read More

One of the fundamental steps that need to be taken prior to beginning international marketing is the environmental analysis. Of course there are many tools on Marketing Teacher that would prove useful at this stage such as lessons on the marketing environment, PEST Analysis, SWOT Analysis, POWER SWOT and Five ...Read More

This lesson gives an outline of the way in which an organization should select which foreign to enter. It's a five stage process, and its purpose is to gauge which international market or markets offer the best opportunities for our products or services to succeed. The five steps are Country ...Read More

This lesson considers the basics of pricing for international marketing. As with all of the international marketing lessons, every country and culture within it will influence price. So here we are going to look at some of the common influences upon pricing decision-making, the impact of grey markets, international approaches ...Read More

Culture is the way that we do things around here. Here could be a country (national culture), a distinct selection of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned ...Read More

Marketing and Finance

Standard Costing Lesson Exercise Answer Perhaps no accounting principle utilizes performance management concepts better than standard costing. One of the elements of cost accounting, standard costing is of particular benefit to those companies engaged in manufacturing. Each type of standard has its strengths and weaknesses, but regular monitoring and making ...Read More

The Profit and Loss statement is one of the main business financial statements. Among the various financial statements, a Profit and Loss statement most closely resembles what is referred to as ...Read More

A stalled economy threatens the viability of many small businesses. Some have experienced decreases in revenues that they cannot sustain. Slower sales have prompted some to institute personnel layoffs others are prone to cut advertising. But, a hasty decision could be a mistake. After all, the reason for advertising is ...Read More

Marketing budgets ensure that your marketing plan or campaign is realistically costed. Some pre-budget research into your industry and market, your competitors and your business's historical marketing metrics helps marketing managers make a more informed calculation. You should cost out all general marketing and marketing communications expenses. You could also ...Read More

It may not be readily apparent to you how financial statements are relevant from a marketing perspective. You may ask - What can these financial statements tell me about my Marketing Plan? First, let me outline each briefly and then elaborate on why they will be so important to you ...Read More

Lender and investors are able to glean a lot of valuable information from the data available in a company's' financial statements and records. Their priority is insuring that they are repaid for any loan or financial investment ...Read More

Contribution Analysis Lesson Exercise Answer Occasionally a company is confronted with unplanned events which call for the use of decision-making tools beyond those found in the basic accounting methods. Price - Variable Costs Per Unit = Contribution Margin Per Unit On an individual special order project a company's product contribution ...Read More

The main purpose of a Cash Flow Statement (CFS) is to help the business owner plan and control the flow of income in order to meet scheduled financial obligations. The information illustrated in the Cash Flow Statement also aids lenders and investors in determining a company's financial health ...Read More

An Annual Report is a statement prepared by companies that are traded publicly. The development of an Annual Report provides inherent value in the process of reviewing major financial and operational achievements that occurred during the past 12 months ...Read More

Annual Accounts Lesson Exercise Answer Although the standard components of a basic annual report such as balance sheet, profit and loss statements and cash flow statements provide key financial information of interest to shareholders and others, there are occasions when more thorough information is desired. Some larger companys have subsidiaries, ...Read More

Marketing Communications

Competitions You might consider price promotions which would include activities such as games, draws and competitions. One benefit is that costs can be calculated fairly precisely before this type of sales promotion. Games are one of those activities which has become far more elaborate since marketing has become digital; so ...Read More

How are giveaways used for marketing? Giveaways, also known as premiums, are products or services which are given away free or at a low price in order to provide incentives for customers to buy the product or service. There are a number of them, let us have a look at ...Read More

What is a money-off deal? Put simply, money off deals are where you offer a discount to customer. The benefit is that the customer sees an immediate increase in value for what they pay. Again the money off deal can be used to get a customer to trial your product, ...Read More

Rebates for marketing A rebate is a cash refund. The difference between a rebate and a coupon, is that the rebates are claimed after you good or service has been purchased. There are some other rather interesting rebating techniques that you might use. For example, you may set a target ...Read More

How do coupons work in marketing? Traditionally coupons were given away in newspapers and magazines, or maybe as part of a leaflet campaign. Digital marketing has rejuvenated the use of coupons. Historically the benefit of a coupon was that you had a permanent record of your customer. Of course digital ...Read More

Samples for marketing. There is nothing like actually trying a product or service out for yourself; therefore, if you experience it you know what you are buying and it may make it simpler for you to achieve your sale. You could give away a free sample, or you might decide ...Read More

Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase in sales, usage or trail of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of the promotions mix). Sales promotions are varied. Often they are original and creative, and hence a ...Read More

Public Relations (PR) is a single, broad concept. It is broad since it contains so many elements, many of which will be outlined in this lesson. Public Relations (PR) are any purposeful communications between an organisation and its publics that aim to generate goodwill. Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders ...Read More

Another one of the 4P's is 'promotion'. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with Neil H.Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' ...Read More

Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject area known as marketing. Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P's), that includes people, processes and physical evidence, when marketing services (known as the seven P's) ...Read More

The loyalty ladder is often used by marketing communicators to put forward the proposition that consumers can be moved along a continuum of loyalty using a number of integrated marketing communications techniques (it is also referred to as a 'Branding Ladder.') ...Read More

A marcoms tool that a marketer can employ for branding decision-making is the Four Banding Alternatives (Tauber 1981). Four Branding Alternatives is a strategic marketing communications technique. It is a fun and creative approach that can add value to any class that likes to discuss brands and how they could ...Read More

Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium ...Read More

An advertising agency handles part or all marketing communications activities on behalf of a client organisation. The agencies themselves tend to vary in size from small, perhaps a handful of people, to vast - where many thousands of employees make up the company. A commission is generally taken by the ...Read More

Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships ...Read More

Marketing Environment

SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors. A ...Read More

PESTEL Model This lesson is about PESTEL analysis. As we know from our lesson on the marketing environment the wider macroenvironment impacts upon how marketing managers make decisions. During this lesson we’re going to look at how we audit and evaluate our external business environment. There are a number of ...Read More

PEST analysis is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning ...Read More

This is Marketing Teacher's introduction to marketing research. Market research and marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept ...Read More

Here you will find Marketing Teacher's FREE lesson on secondary marketing research. Market research and marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept ...Read More

Microenvironment What is the microenvironment? This lesson covers the microenvironment in greater detail. It considers the interface between a business and its microenvironment. Let's just review what microenvironment is again based upon the earlier lesson on the marketing environment which contains the topic. Our microenvironment is the totality of people ...Read More

Market research and marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept. 'Marketing' research is much broader. It not only includes 'market' research, but also areas such as research into new products, or modes of distribution such as via ...Read More

The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the organization. There are three key elements to the marketing environment which are the internal environment, the microenvironment and the macroenvironment ...Read More

Reference groups have an influence on purchasing behavior, but the level of influence will depend on where the product will be consumed—in public or in private—and whether the product is a want or a need ...Read More

What a consumer eats, wears, and believes are all learned and influenced by the culture they live in, their family, childhood and social environment. All of these are external factors that affect purchases ...Read More

Culture includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society. How does culture affect consumer behavior? Whatever a person consumes will determine their level of acceptance in their society. If someone does not act consistently with cultural expectations, they ...Read More

Where a child places in the birth order can have an effect on how they see themselves, and therefore affects their consumer behavior. The middle child often seems to have the most negative impressions of his lot in life. Younger children always want to be able to do the things ...Read More

Collecting customer information Collecting Information about customer needs. So we recognise that customers and consumers have needs and wants. We are now going to look at how we gather information about customer needs and want, since by satisfying these needs and wants is how we make profit. There are internal ...Read More

Business Environment What is the business environment? The business environment is made up from the microenvironment and the macroenvironment. Our previous lessons on the marketing environment summarises both topics. The business environment will now be considered in a more practical manner. There are forces in the business environment that will ...Read More

SWOT analysis is a marketing audit that considers an organization's strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Our introductory lesson gives you the basics of how to compete your SWOT as you begin to learn about marketing tools. As you learn more about SWOT analysis, you will become aware of a number ...Read More

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix The marketing mix is one of the most famous marketing terms. The marketing mix is the tactical or operational part of a marketing plan. The marketing mix is also called the 4Ps and the 7Ps. The 4Ps are price, place, product and promotion. The services marketing mix ...Read More

Jerry Baldwin, Zeff Siegl, and Gordon Bowker formed Starbucks in Seattle, Washington in 1971. Its origin is said to be inspired by another coffee lover and store Owner; Alfred Peet. Starbucks actually began by purchasing coffee from Peets, but eventually began buying directly from growers ...Read More

Sony was founded in 1945 by partners Masaru Ibuka, (an engineer), and Akio Morita, (a physicist),and was originally named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering). The firm was launched in Nihonbashi, Tokyo ...Read More

Ryanair is the European low cost airline. Low cost or no frills marketing strategies are of great interest to marketers since the marketing mix employed tends to run in opposition to what makes a great brand - and Ryanair is a great brand and a very successful business. In a ...Read More

In 1965 Herman W. Lay of the Frito-Lay Company and Donald Kendall of Pepsi-Cola formed PepsiCo. In 1986 operations were combined under PepsiCo Worldwide Foods and PepsiCo Worldwide Beverages. In 2001 PepsiCo merged with Quaker Oats to form a $25 billion company. PepsiCo restructured in 2007 dividing the company into ...Read More

Kroger Store originated in 1883, established by Barney Kroger of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1901, Kroger broke new ground that same year by becoming the first store to have its own bakery. The company was incorporated in 1902 as The Kroger Grocery and Baking Company ...Read More

The launch of the Wii U controller will make it much more interactive. It has a central, handheld touch screen and will show different media to supplement and enhance the experience on your TV. It has a High Definition (HD) platform. Reports indicated that it will be launched somewhere between ...Read More

Over the years Johnson & Johnson has grown substantially in part due to strategic acquisitions ranging from large ones such as Neutrogena in 1994 and DePuy in 1998, to many smaller ones. From 1989 to 1999, the company made 45 such acquisitions of companies and product lines. Today the firm ...Read More

IKEA has a wide range of furniture for children's rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms. Products include coffee tables, side tables, TV solutions, DVD storage, shelves, sideboards, bookcases, sofa beds, armchairs, leather sofas and fabric sofas, as well as many other products. So within these segments IKEA then subdivides again ...Read More

Home Depot originated in Atlanta Georgia in 1978 when Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank formed MB Associates. The company went public in 1981.The Home Depot stock moved from NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange three years later in 1984. The company then acquired Bowater's Home Center. The company opened ...Read More

The Hewlett-Packard Company was originated in January 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, two Stanford University classmates. The company incorporated in 1947. Mr. Packard was appointed as the President and Mr. Hewlett as the Vice President ...Read More

General Electric originated in 1892 when Thomson-Houston Electric and Edison General Electric merged. Initially focusing on products such as toasters, motors and light bulbs, it is now a diversified company composed of media, financial services and technology divisions. These divisions provide business and consumer financing services, media content, as well ...Read More

Google is a search engine. Search engines are used to search the Internet. However Google is much more than a search engine - it's a global company that specializes in innovation and technology. The business focuses on information made up mainly from web pages, although today all information is absorbed ...Read More

The Filmed Entertainment segment is involved in the acquisition and production of animated motion pictures and live-action pictures for licensing and distribution primarily in the US, Canada and Europe. The segment also produces original television programs in Canada and the US. The company engages in productions of feature films and ...Read More

Ebay began its business life as AuctionWeb and emphasized collectables. Originally the company was meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals. The company’s founder was a computer programmer Pierre Omidyar. Its co-founder was Jeff Skoll ...Read More

Facebook is a free social networking service. Once you have signed up you create your own profile and publish photographs. You can publish personal information such as your interests, your contact information and so on. Privacy has been a constant issue with Facebook and more recently users now have the ...Read More

Apple, Inc originated from the friendship and mutual interests of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The Two collaborated in the development of the “Apple I in the early 1970s. The Apple I was a step ahead of most computers of the time featuring a use of aTV as a display ...Read More

Based in Miami, Florida, Burger King is one of the worlds best known fast food restaurants (it is the second largest company in the world). The company’s 40,000 plus employees helped it earn over $190 million dollars in 2008. Its success is reflected in a 28.4 percent increase in net ...Read More

In 2008, DreamWorks Animation generated over $650 million through its development and production of computer generated animated films and TV specials. Operating out of Glendale, California, DreamWorks employs approximately 1,700 people ...Read More

Time and Warner Communications began operations in the 1920s. Henry Luce and Britton Haddon founded Time in 1922. The first issue of Time Magazine appeared in 1923. Warner Brothers (Warner Bros) was incorporated by brothers Harry, Abe, Jack, and Sam Warner in the same year. Warner Bros went public in ...Read More

Yahoo originated in 1994 as “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” (a directory of other websites). The name was then changed to Yahoo. The value of the directory created by David Yang and David Filo soon became apparent after receiving over 900,000 hits. The company held its initial public ...Read More

In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, lets consider it as three different products - the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally the AUGMENTED product. These are known as the 'Three Levels of a Product.' So what is the difference between the three products, or ...Read More

Marketing Strategy

Zipf’s law states that if a collection of items is ranked by popularity the second item will have around half the popularity of the first one and the third item will have about a third of the of the popularity of the first one and so on ...Read More

What is TOWS Analysis? TOWS analysis is a tool which is used to generate, compare and select strategies. Strictly speaking it is not the same as SWOT analysis, and it is certainly not a SWOT analysis which focuses on threats and opportunities. This is a popular misconception. TOWS may have ...Read More

Marketing Teacher's strategy page is an internal portal to well known to for strategy such as Ansoff's Matrix, The Boston Matrix, Porter's Generic Strategies, Bowman's Strategy Clock and Gap Analysis ...Read More

The term value curve appears in three key Harvard Business Review articles by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, as well as their 2005 book - Blue Ocean Strategy. The value curve is a tool for strategic managers to see visually how their strategy works in relation to close competitors ...Read More

The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an organisation ...Read More

The Shell Directional Policy Matrix is another refinement upon the Boston Matrix. Along the horizontal axis are prospects for sector profitability, and along the vertical axis are a company's competitive capability. As with the GE Business Screen the location of a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in any cell of the ...Read More

Pareto principle The Pareto principle is also known as the 80/20 rule. From your own experience you may have come across it, for example 80% of our business comes from 20% of our customers. The principle itself states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Let's ...Read More

Generic strategies were at their most popular in the early 1980s. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage ...Read More

The General Electric Business Screen was originally developed to help marketing managers overcome the problems that are commonly associated with the Boston Matrix (BCG), such as the problems with the lack of credible business information, the fact that BCG deals primarily with commodities not brands or Strategic Business Units (SBU's), ...Read More

Gap analysis is a very useful tool for helping marketing managers to decide upon marketing strategies and tactics. Again, the simple tools are the most effective. There's a straightforward structure to follow ...Read More

Five Forces Analysis helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products ...Read More

The 'Strategy Clock' is based upon the work of Cliff Bowman (see C. Bowman and D. Faulkner 'Competitve and Corporate Strategy - Irwin - 1996). It's another suitable way to analyze a company's competitive position in comparison to the offerings of competitors ...Read More

Benchmarking relies upon a comparison between the activities of your own organization and those of another. Originally benchmarking was used in manufacturing operations where one process could be compared and contrasted with another ...Read More

The Balanced Scorecard is an approach that can be used by strategic marketing managers to control, and keep track of, key performance indicators. In fact the scorecard itself is designed to be wholly strategic since it contains long-term outcomes and drivers of success. There are four zones in a balanced ...Read More

Although now slightly dated at first glance, The Arthur D Little (ADL) Strategic Condition Matrix offers a different perspective on strategy formulation. ADL has two main dimensions - competitive position and industry maturity ...Read More

Relationship Marketing

Services Marketing

A service is the action of doing something for someone or something. It is largely intangible (i.e. not material). A product is tangible (i.e. material) since you can touch it and own it. A service tends to be an experience that is consumed at the point where it is purchased, ...Read More

Services Marketing Mix As we discussed in the lesson on services, there are a series of fundamental characteristics such as intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability which are unique to a service. The traditional marketing mix which includes product, place, price and promotion could be stretched to compensate for these factors ...Read More

Small Business Marketing

Seller beware! Guerrilla marketing is innovative and seizes the moment. It is a controversial way of promoting your products and services. The idea is that in some way you ambush your customers or the media that they are exposed to, such as TV or radio. For a small business, your ...Read More

Cinemas and movie theatres Your local cinema or movie theatre may be the place where your local customers congregate. Similar rules apply, as with radio and newspapers above, so common sense says you need to target those movies which your customers want to see. If you have a restaurant you ...Read More

You may be lucky enough to have a local independent radio station which is listened to by your target customers. Obviously, the benefits of any broadcast radio are that the medium is largely limited to sound and therefore is often best suited to communicating pure fact, for example when you ...Read More

The press (national or local) – newspapers and magazines The national and local press are a more mature form of advertising, which is still very popular with entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies. The benefit is that publishers will recognise the type of business that you have, and recommended packages of ...Read More

Outdoor – posters, billboards and transportation Outdoor advertising, which is also known as Out-Of-Home advertising (OOH), is all advertising that your customers are exposed to when outdoors! It is surprising how much advertising you can be exposed to whilst you are on the go. You will see advertising whilst walking, ...Read More

Your outline advertising plan in 7 steps. Who is the potential TARGET AUDIENCE of the advert? These are your potential customers.WHAT do I wish to communicate to this target audience? Tell them about your product or service, its benefits, attributes and features. Tell them about your brand!Why is this message ...Read More

Your advertising will direct a message to large numbers of potential customers with one single communication! A couple of simple things to remember here: firstly, advertising needs to be aimed at specific potential customers from whom you need to make a profit; which leads nicely on to secondly, advertising needs ...Read More

There are many tools and techniques that will be useful to you when communicating with the outside world. Think about these tools as another type of mix, let us call it the promotions mix! Again, you will balance and blend these approaches to suit your business’ needs best. Ask yourself ...Read More

Tips and techniques for successful blogging Now that you've discovered the power of successful blogging for entrepreneurs, start-ups or small businesses, make the most of your writing time by considering some of the following tips. Design a publishing schedule, and stick to it. You do not have to write an ...Read More

Writing a successful blog for your idea, start-up or small business If you are new to blogging, then the whole topic of writing a successful blog for your small business, idea or start-up, may seem a little daunting. This section will consider the pros and cons of a blog, and ...Read More

Why is Facebook ideal for your business? Worldwide, there are over 1.65 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 15 percent increase year over year. So, you can see that Facebook is an ideal avenue for you to communicate your messages, and so your products or services. Age 25 ...Read More

Marketing for Entrepreneurs, Start-Ups and Small Businesses, by Tim Friesner. People market ideas, products and services for all sorts of reasons; you might want to make the world better for everyone, you might desire recognition for yourself, you might not like working for other people, or you might have found ...Read More

Social Media Marketing

Why is Facebook ideal for your business? Worldwide, there are over 1.65 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 15 percent increase year over year. So, you can see that Facebook is an ideal avenue for you to communicate your messages, and so your products or services. Age 25 ...Read More

Content marketing is the management of content to engage visitors, followers and customers. Any medium which is on a webpage or social network can form the basis of content. There are lots of examples of such tools and approaches; content may relate to material on social networks such as Facebook; ...Read More

Social Media Audit The social media audit is an important part of the digital marketing planning process. Social media is an opportunity for consumers to generate their own content, and many of the top-ranking results of an Internet search will result in social media content - in relation to companies, ...Read More

Social networks are a very important digital marketing channel, so it is important that marketers understand the essentials of social networking. They are particularly important when creating a community, based on communication and dialogue with our customers ...Read More

Walt Disney has grown to become a household name both within and beyond the United States. As a current employer of about 185 000 people, the company generated a total revenue of over 52 billion dollars in the year 2015, and a net profit of over 8 billion dollars which ...Read More

Facebook is a growing social media network that has enabled millions of people to stay connected to each other through posts, photos, videos and much more. This is a Facebook SWOT analysis ...Read More

SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors. A ...Read More

Molson-Coors SWOT Company Overview Molson Coors Brewing Company (Molson Coors) is a holding company engaged in the manufacturing, packaging and selling of malt beverage products, including alcoholic beer, cider, ales, stouts and lager. The company operates primarily in the US, Canada and the UK. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado ...Read More

SWOT analysis is a marketing audit that considers an organization's strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Our introductory lesson gives you the basics of how to compete your SWOT as you begin to learn about marketing tools. As you learn more about SWOT analysis, you will become aware of a number ...Read More

Marketing Exercises

Here is Marketing Teacher's FREE exercise on consumer buyer behaviour. Consumer buyer behaviour is focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organisations. It is important to understand the relevance of human needs to buyer behaviour. This lesson consider buyer behaviour motivations ...Read More

Exercise: There are many ways to use the Internet as a new medium for Advertising. This lesson considers Pay-Per-Click (or Cost-Per-Click) Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, and touches upon the range of traditional Offline Promotions Strategies that will help to promote a website using more offline media ...Read More

Here is our FREE ontribution analysis exercise. Contribution Analysis addresses the problem of identifying soft, or overhead costs associated with varying production projects. Generally, Contribution Analysis aids a company by accounting for all known fixed, direct and variable costs and then subtracting that amount from revenues ...Read More

Exercise: We've already considered product as part of the marketing mix. Two previous tools for product decision-making have been introduced - Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the Three Levels of a Product. Both of these tools are equally applicable to the context of eMarketing, and can be easily applied to ...Read More

Exercise: Although now slightly dated at first glance, The Arthur D Little (ADL) Strategic Condition Matrix offers a different perspective on strategy formulation. ADL has two main dimensions - competitive position and industry maturity ...Read More

Exercise: Ansoff's matrix offers strategic choices to marketing managers. Ansoff's has four main categories.This well known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called 'Strategies for Diversification'. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth. Ansoff's matrix offers strategic choices to ...Read More

This is a balanced scorecard exercise. The Balanced Scorecard is an approach that can be used by strategic marketing managers to control, and keep track of, key performance indicators. In fact the scorecard itself is designed to be wholly strategic since it contains long-term outcomes and drivers of success. There ...Read More

Exercise: Generic strategies were at their most popular in the early 1980s. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage ...Read More

Exercise: A marcoms tool that a marketer can employ for branding decision-making is the Four Banding Alternatives (Tauber 1981). Four Branding Alternatives is a strategic marketing communications technique. It is a fun and creative approach that can add value to any class that likes to discuss brands and how they ...Read More

Exercise: A core competence is the result of a specific unique set of skills or production techniques that deliver value to the customer. Such competences give an organization access to a wide variety of markets. Hamel and Prahalad (1990) refer to a number of organizations and their products to support ...Read More

This is a FREE exercise on standard costing. Perhaps no accounting principle utilizes performance management concepts better than standard costing. One of the elements of cost accounting, standard costing is of particular benefit to those companies engaged in manufacturing ...Read More

Exercise: Like Ansoff's matrix, the Boston Matrix is a well known tool for the marketing manager. It was developed by the large US consulting group and is an approach to product portfolio planning. It has two controlling aspect namely relative market share (meaning relative to your competition) and market growth ...Read More

Exercise: A stalled economy threatens the viability of many small businesses. Some have experienced decreases in revenues that they cannot sustain. Slower sales have prompted some to institute personnel layoffs others are prone to cut advertising. But, a hasty decision could be a mistake. After all, the reason for advertising ...Read More

Exercise: In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, lets consider it as three different products - the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally the AUGMENTED product. These are known as the 'Three Levels of a Product.' So what is the difference between the three products, ...Read More

Exercise: PEST analysis is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning ...Read More

Exercise: Another element of Neil H.Borden's Marketing Mix is Place. Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer ...Read More

Exercise: Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market who share similar needs and who demonstrate similar buyer behavior. The world is made up from billions of buyers with their own sets of needs and behavior ...Read More

Exercise: Another one of the 4P's is 'promotion'. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with Neil H.Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' ...Read More

Exercise: SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. SWOT is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors ...Read More

Exercise: The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after a long period as an adult the plant begins to ...Read More

This is a FREE exercise on personal selling. Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships ...Read More

Exercise: Market research and marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept. 'Marketing' research is much broader. It not only includes 'market' research, but also areas such as research into new products, or modes of distribution such as ...Read More

Exercise: The 'Strategy Clock' is based upon the work of Cliff Bowman (see C. Bowman and D. Faulkner 'Competitve and Corporate Strategy - Irwin - 1996). It's another suitable way to analyze a company's competitive position in comparison to the offerings of competitors ...Read More

Exercise: As with many of the tools and techniques considered on Marketing Teacher, traffic lights is a simple and effective approach. It's just like the traffic lights that are seen in millions of streets throughout the world, and is a basic metaphor for red, amber and green. Red means 'let's ...Read More

Exercise: The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an ...Read More

Exercise: A business is in a better position to weather an economic downturn when it is buttressed by a good marketing plan. A firms understanding of consumer behavior is enhanced if its marketing plan includes careful consideration of market segmentation, targeting and positioning ...Read More

Tis page contains a FREE exercise on marketing planning. Marketing plans are vital to marketing success. They help to focus the mind of companies and marketing teams on the process of marketing i.e. what is going to be achieved and how we intend to do it ...Read More

Exercise: The Balance Sheet holds information of great interest to bankers and investors alike. The information represented on a Balance Sheet is very revealing to the keen eye, because it can forecast a company's ability to pay its bills and discloses how much money has been invested ...Read More

Welcome to Marketing Teacher's free exercise on five forces analysis. Five Forces Analysis helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather ...Read More

Exercise: The loyalty ladder is often used by marketing communicators to put forward the proposition that consumers can be moved along a continuum of loyalty using a number of integrated marketing communications techniques (it is also referred to as a 'Branding Ladder.'). Essentially, consumers become loyal to a brand, which ...Read More

Here is our FREE profit and loss exercise. The Profit and Loss statement is one of the main business financial statements. Among the various financial statements, a Profit and Loss statement most closely resembles what is referred to as ...Read More

Exercise: Lender and investors are able to glean a lot of valuable information from the data available in a company's' financial statements and records. Their priority is insuring that they are repaid for any loan or financial investment ...Read More

Welocome to our free exercise on activity-based costing. A manufacturing company is uniquely positioned to benefit from activity-based costing. Activity-based Costing is a costing model that aids a company in determining the costs of certain activities involved in producing a product/service and distributing that product/service to a customer ...Read More

Exercise: Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium ...Read More

Exercise: A popular method of measuring whether a firm is getting its money’s worth from promotions is by the calculation of Return On Investment (ROI). Return on Investment is a metric that measures profit associated with each investment. Although methods and approaches may vary the calculation below will yield a ...Read More

Exercise: The composition of Annual Accounts is guided by applicable governmental bodies and legislation such as that found in the International Accounting Standards Board and American Securities Exchange Commission. In addition to substantially more detailed information, firms such as limited liability companys, insurance companies and savings banks, must also provide ...Read More

Exercise: Products or services are 'mapped' together on a 'positioning map'. This allows them to be compared and contrasted in relation to each other. This is the main strength of this tool. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of ...Read More

Welcome to our FREE exercise on marketing and cashflow. The main purpose of a Cash Flow Statement (CFS) is to help the business owner plan and control the flow of income in order to meet scheduled financial obligations. The information illustrated in the Cash Flow Statement also aids lenders and ...Read More

Exercise: The allocation and identification of direct and indirect costs contributes to more accurate profit calculations. Not only is the clarification of costs important to business owners, it may be of particular interest to some prime contractors who may actually impose a specific accounting methodology in order to meet its ...Read More

Exercise: Culture is the way that we do things around here. Here could be a country (national culture), a distinct selection of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned ...Read More

Marketing Answers

Answer: Products or services are 'mapped' together on a 'positioning map'. This allows them to be compared and contrasted in relation to each other. This is the main strength of this tool. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of ...Read More

This is the answer to our FREE profit and loss exercise. The Profit and Loss statement is one of the main business financial statements. Among the various financial statements, a Profit and Loss statement most closely resembles what is referred to as the bottom line ...Read More

Answer: There are many ways to use the Internet as a new medium for Advertising. This lesson considers Pay-Per-Click (or Cost-Per-Click) Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, and touches upon the range of traditional Offline Promotions Strategies that will help to promote a website using more offline media ...Read More

Answer: Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market who share similar needs and who demonstrate similar buyer behavior. The world is made up from billions of buyers with their own sets of needs and behavior ...Read More

Answer: Generic strategies were at their most popular in the early 1980s. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage ...Read More

Answer: Another one of the 4P's is 'promotion'. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with Neil H.Borden's marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' ...Read More

Answer: We've already considered product as part of the marketing mix. Two previous tools for product decision-making have been introduced - Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the Three Levels of a Product. Both of these tools are equally applicable to the context of eMarketing, and can be easily applied to ...Read More

Standard costing answer. Perhaps no accounting principle utilizes performance management concepts better than standard costing. One of the elements of cost accounting, standard costing is of particular benefit to those companies engaged in manufacturing ...Read More

Answer: SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. SWOT is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors ...Read More

Answer: In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, lets consider it as three different products - the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally the AUGMENTED product. These are known as the 'Three Levels of a Product.' So what is the difference between the three products, ...Read More

Answer: An Annual Report is a statement prepared by companies that are traded publicly. The development of an Annual Report provides inherent value in the process of reviewing major financial and operational achievements that occurred during the past 12 months ...Read More

Here is the answer to our product life cycle PLC exercise. The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after ...Read More

Answer: Another element of Neil H.Borden's Marketing Mix is Place. Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer ...Read More

Answer: A manufacturing company is uniquely positioned to benefit from activity-based costing. Activity-based Costing is a costing model that aids a company in determining the costs of certain activities involved in producing a product/service and distributing that product/service to a customer ...Read More

Answer: A business is in a better position to weather an economic downturn when it is buttressed by a good marketing plan. A firms understanding of consumer behavior is enhanced if its marketing plan includes careful consideration of market segmentation, targeting and positioning ...Read More

This is the answer to our return on investment exercise. A popular method of measuring whether a firm is getting its money’s worth from promotions is by the calculation of Return On Investment (ROI). Return on Investment is a metric that measures profit associated with each investment. Although methods and ...Read More

Answer: A core competence is the result of a specific unique set of skills or production techniques that deliver value to the customer. Such competences give an organization access to a wide variety of markets. Hamel and Prahalad (1990) refer to a number of organizations and their products to support ...Read More

Answer: The Balance Sheet holds information of great interest to bankers and investors alike. The information represented on a Balance Sheet is very revealing to the keen eye, because it can forecast a company's ability to pay its bills and discloses how much money has been invested ...Read More

Answer: The loyalty ladder is often used by marketing communicators to put forward the proposition that consumers can be moved along a continuum of loyalty using a number of integrated marketing communications techniques (it is also referred to as a 'Branding Ladder.'). Essentially, consumers become loyal to a brand, which ...Read More

Answer: Like Ansoff's matrix, the Boston Matrix is a well known tool for the marketing manager. It was developed by the large US consulting group and is an approach to product portfolio planning. It has two controlling aspect namely relative market share (meaning relative to your competition) and market growth ...Read More

Answer: A stalled economy threatens the viability of many small businesses. Some have experienced decreases in revenues that they cannot sustain. Slower sales have prompted some to institute personnel layoffs others are prone to cut advertising. But, a hasty decision could be a mistake. After all, the reason for advertising ...Read More

Answer: Culture is the way that we do things around here. Here could be a country (national culture), a distinct selection of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned ...Read More

This is the answer to Marketing Teacher's exercise on marketing plans. Marketing plans are vital to marketing success. They help to focus the mind of companies and marketing teams on the process of marketing i.e. what is going to be achieved and how we intend to do it. There are ...Read More

Answer: Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships ...Read More

This is the answer to our exercise on the value chain. The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build ...Read More

Answer: As with many of the tools and techniques considered on Marketing Teacher, traffic lights is a simple and effective approach. It's just like the traffic lights that are seen in millions of streets throughout the world, and is a basic metaphor for red, amber and green. Red means 'let's ...Read More

Answer: Five Forces Analysis helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products ...Read More

Answer: PEST analysis is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning ...Read More

Answer: Market research and marketing research are often confused. 'Market' research is simply research into a specific market. It is a very narrow concept. 'Marketing' research is much broader. It not only includes 'market' research, but also areas such as research into new products, or modes of distribution such as ...Read More

Answer: Contribution Analysis addresses the problem of identifying soft, or overhead costs associated with varying production projects. Generally, Contribution Analysis aids a company by accounting for all known fixed, direct and variable costs and then subtracting that amount from revenues. The remainder is viewed as the volume of other costs ...Read More

Answer: The Balanced Scorecard is an approach that can be used by strategic marketing managers to control, and keep track of, key performance indicators. In fact the scorecard itself is designed to be wholly strategic since it contains long-term outcomes and drivers of success. There are four zones in a ...Read More

Answer: Consumer buyer behaviour is focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organisations. It is important to understand the relevance of human needs to buyer behaviour. This lesson consider buyer behaviour motivations ...Read More

Answer: Ansoff's matrix offers strategic choices to marketing managers. Ansoff's has four main categories.This well known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called 'Strategies for Diversification'. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth. Ansoff's matrix offers strategic choices to ...Read More

Answer: Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium ...Read More

Answer: The main purpose of a Cash Flow Statement (CFS) is to help the business owner plan and control the flow of income in order to meet scheduled financial obligations. The information illustrated in the Cash Flow Statement also aids lenders and investors in determining a company's financial health ...Read More

Answer: The composition of Annual Accounts is guided by applicable governmental bodies and legislation such as that found in the International Accounting Standards Board and American Securities Exchange Commission. In addition to substantially more detailed information, firms such as limited liability companys, insurance companies and savings banks, must also provide ...Read More

Answer: The allocation and identification of direct and indirect costs contributes to more accurate profit calculations. Not only is the clarification of costs important to business owners, it may be of particular interest to some prime contractors who may actually impose a specific accounting methodology in order to meet its ...Read More

Answer: The 'Strategy Clock' is based upon the work of Cliff Bowman (see C. Bowman and D. Faulkner 'Competitve and Corporate Strategy - Irwin - 1996). It's another suitable way to analyze a company's competitive position in comparison to the offerings of competitors ...Read More

Answer: A marcoms tool that a marketer can employ for branding decision-making is the Four Banding Alternatives (Tauber 1981). Four Branding Alternatives is a strategic marketing communications technique. It is a fun and creative approach that can add value to any class that likes to discuss brands and how they ...Read More